The article's author, Matthew Stock, interviews Dr. Robert Harrison who is spearheading the research project in question. Dr. Harrison brings to light the shocking reality that is the lack of adequate healthcare in Africa by explaining that over 32,000 people die yearly from snakebites and 100,000 survive these bites, but are disfigured or disabled because of the damage from the venom. Dr. Harrison has accrued 21 species of venomous snakes native to Sub-Saharan Africa (including the Spitting Cobra, Puff Adder, and Source Scale Viper) and is "milking" them to hopefully create anti-venoms (I must admit that the thought of milking an animal that in no way has mammary glands or even feeds their young after birth sounds a little gross to me, but I understand that it is just a term for extracting the venom from their fangs).
Awesome picture I found of the Spitting Cobra:
Dr Harrison intends to take a new approach to creating broad-spectrum anti-venoms that is dubbed "antivenomics." They pick out the specific proteins that are unique to each species of snake's venom and add those proteins together with the existing anti-venom (used effectively in Nigeria) to create a comprehensive anti-venom. Combined with a more cost-effective production process created in Costa Rica, the anti-venoms that Dr. Harrison and his team hope to make will be more accessible and effective in Sub-Saharan Africa. They also hope to add molecules to the serum to allow for the antivenom to be stored at "ambient temperatures" instead of requiring refrigeration which is a scarcity in the heat of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Since this is Yahoo News, the audience that Stock is pitching to is obviously not as medically or herpetologically-minded as say people who read scientific journals so I understand why he didn't go into depth about the processes of isolating proteins etc. etc, but I do want to know the specifics. What is this newer and cheaper production process in Costa Rica? How do they combine proteins and get an effective anti-venom? What species are of most concern? I guess I'll have to go hunting to find out for myself!
Link to article: http://news.yahoo.com/deadly-snakes-milked-create-potent-anti-venom-203845320.html
2 comments:
This is fascinating! As I was reading the article from your link, I came ot the realization that these "antivenomics" will basically become a "flu shot" for snake venom. I am blown away that this idea has finally come about. I wish it could have been put into action sooner, relieving all those poor people and families from the pain and hardship of their disfigurement and even death from the snake venom.I think it would be very interesting to hear about how they plan to combine the snake proteins and overcome the temperature limits of the solution.
Cool!
Post a Comment